Sara K. Yeo portrait
  • Faculty Affiliate, Global Change and Sustainability Center
  • Faculty Affiliate, Environmental Humanities
  • Faculty Director, STEM Ambassador Program (STEMAP)
  • Associate Professor, Communication

Professional Service

  • Society for Risk Analysis. Role: Chair. Risk Communication Specialty Group. 12/2023 - 12/2024
  • National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Role: Committee Member. Standing Committee on Advancing Science Communication. 10/01/2023 - 09/30/2025
  • The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Role: Member. Organizing Committee for the Astrobiology Workshop: Communicating Discoveries in the Search for Life in the Universe. 01/01/2023 - present
  • Inclusive SciComm. Role: Member. 2023 Inclusive SciComm Symposium Planning Committee. 12/2022 - 12/2023
  • Society for Risk Analysis (SRA). Role: Chair-Elect. Risk Communication Specialty Group (RCSG). 12/2022 - 12/2023
  • National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Role: Member. Standing Committee on Advancing Science Communication. 11/2022 - 11/2025
  • American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Role: Vice Chair. Committee on Science and Technology Engagement with the Public (CoSTEP). 01/2022 - 12/2024
  • Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC). Role: Head. Communicating Science, Health, Environment, and Risk Division (ComSHER). 10/2021 - 10/2022
  • The Kavli Foundation & U.S. Department of Energy. Role: Invited member. Steering Committee, Science Public Engagement Partnership (SciPEP). 12/2020 - 09/2021
  • National Science Foundation. Reviewer. 08/2020 - 08/2021
  • Scholars Strategy Network. Role: Chapter Co-lead. Utah Chapter. 08/2019 - 08/2020
  • National Science Foundation. Role: Panel reviewer. Division of Research and Learning in Formal and Informal Settings (DRL). 01/2017 - 01/2017
  • The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Mathematics. Role: Workshop Planning Committee Member. Standing Committee on Emerging Science for Environmental Health Decisions. 08/2016 - 12/2016
  • Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC). Role: Secretary. ComSHER Division. 08/2015 - 08/2016
  • American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR). Role: Member. Membership and Chapter Relations Committee. 05/2013 - 01/2015

Internal Service

  • Search Committee for Assistant Professor of Public Communication of Science. Chair, 08/01/2021 - present. Department service.
  • Graduate Committee. Member, 08/01/2021 - 07/31/2022. Department service.
  • Athletics Advisory Council. Member, 07/2020 - present. University service.
  • Executive Committee. Member, 08/2018 - present. Department service.
  • Department Colloquium. Coordinator, 08/2016 - 08/2019. Department service.
  • Diversity Committee. Member, 07/2016 - 07/2019. Department service.
  • Faculty Hiring Committee. Member, 11/2015 - 03/2016. Department service.
  • Graduate Committee. Member, 07/2015 - 07/2016. Department service.
  • Awards Committee. Member, 03/2015 - 05/2015. Department service.
  • EarthU Sustainability in Diversity. Mentor, 02/2015 - 02/2015. University service.
  • University Marketing and Communications/University of Utah Campus Communication Council. Panelist, Science and Social Media, 11/2014 - 11/2014. University service.
  • Graduate School Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition. Judge, 11/2014 - 11/2014. University service.

Honors & Awards

  • First Place Faculty Paper Award (Mass Communication and Society Division) for the following paper: Yeo, S. K., Cacciatore, M. A., Freiling, I., Su, L. Y.-F., Zhang, J. S., Choi, S. I., & McKasy, M. (2023, August). Knowledge gaps: Media attention and factual, surveillance, and perceived science knowledge among White, Black, and Hispanic audiences. Annual Conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), Washington, DC. Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication , 08/2023
  • Rising Star in the Humanities Award. College of Humanities, University of Utah, 11/2016

In the Media